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Ultimate Software Developer Setup?
wicked coding asks: "I'm a professional software engineer and I'm planning on building my ultimate setup for longer hours coding and hacking, but I'm kinda stuck when it comes with what to choose. What hardware would you choose to use, if money was no object? Obviously there may be some constraints on space. Leave no stone unturned, I'm looking for suggestions on desks, seating, lighting, keyboard and pointing device, monitors and even the computer system itself. Ideally it needs to be as comfortable and ergonomic as possible. What software would you choose to use, if the intended targets were Java and OO PHP5? Currently I'm using Eclipse on Gentoo. Is there a more suitable IDE that works with most popular OSS (and not so OSS) languages including XML, SQL, CSS, PHP, Perl, Java, and C/C++?"
One facing straight ahead and two angling into your peripheral vision. Not only do you get a ton of real-estate, but you never have to worry about getting that even-tanned look on your face. :)
"I'd rather be a lightning rod than a seismometer." -Ken Kesey
Eclipse has a huge future. Many IDE makers are abandoning their own IDEs and making Eclipse plugins. There's already good free plugins for C/C++, excellent inexpensive JSP plugins, and tons of others that I've seen but not used. I have to believe there's some good XML plugins as well. Since Eclipse is cross platform, you don't have to worry about being stuck to one OS. Stick with Eclipse unless you have some special need that Eclipse doesn't do.
AccountKiller
No. Go to ebay. Search for IBM type M keyboards. Buy one. Your fingers will thank you. As for mice, well, I just always go for Logitech.
A multiple-monitor setup using LCD flat panel displays should top the list. I can't begin to describe how much easier it is to do development work on a multi-monitor system, and I can tell you that if you work for a full day with an LCD (running via DVI connector, of course, not RGB/SVGA) side-by-side with even a good ViewSonic CRT, you'll be forever sold on the LCD panels because the brightness, contrast, color accuracy, and crispness are all so much better.
RAM and disk are the two biggest bottlenecks to development, in my experience. So the next most important thing is memory and storage. Get at least 2GB of RAM, and then get yourself set up with a RAID array with plenty of storage (200GB or more), running in a RAID mode that provides for full automatic recovery if a drive fails. Many motherboards now natively support RAID-mirror configurations (two drives) using SATA drives.
The RAID array will drastically improve disk performance. Plus, you'll never have to worry about backup/recovery again. The RAID array by definition always keeps itself "backed up" by its built-in redundancy, and recovery is as simple as popping in a new hard drive and letting the array rebuild to the new drive.
Moderator hint: a comment is neither "Flamebait" nor "Troll" if it is true.
Amen to the use of VMWare. (Or VirtualPC in my case.) This will save you tons of time on testing. No uninstalling and wondering if everything is gone, or if it left that one file or one registry key somewhere. (Yes, I do dev on Windows.) No time wasted reimaging a test box. And, as you're on a budget, you only need one computer. Just splurge and make it fast, with tons of ram and a RAID set up and you're good to go. Putting your VirtualPC or VMWare image on a RAID drive makes a big difference, as does adding that ram.
After coding since 1972 I've found that simpler is better. The more whiz-bang things you have around - the more they are going to distract you.
:-) RED means DEAD in coding. Blues and greens mean good things are happening and yellow means you are about to be pissed off by something either you did or someone else did to your code. :-P
:-)
I use vim to edit, gcc to compile, ddd/gdb to debug. Whether it is Linux, BSD, Sun Solaris, Windows, Macintosh (OS X and earlier), Cray, SGI, or whatever - I use the same things. It makes life simple. I have my vim macros - they do all of my documentation for me, help to reformat bad code I have to look at, and even can go through a complete file and replace various items I do not like to look at into things I do like to look at.
I have found that fancy IDEs, overly helpful editors, and things of that sort tend to piss me off since I type so fast. I especially hate it when an IDE overlaps what I'm typing so I can't see what I'm typing. It usually gets the wrong word and by the time the program finally figures out what the actual word is I want - I've typed it in already. However, I do like the color coding.
In any event, do whatever feels best for you, but fancy things tend to get in the way rather than help out (unless you just happen to like that sort of thing).
This is not to say that IDEs can not help. Especially when programming for Windows. Also, there are interface designers. The two I like are DialogBlock or wxDesigner. Neither of them get in the way of coding. Once through with them though - I stick to vim.
If you are looking for advice on creature comforts - here are mine:
1. Have someplace you can put things to drink. It always breaks concentration when you have to get up, go to another room, and get a drink. If possible, buy a small refrigerator you can put under the desk or in another part of the room. Put your cold drinks in there so you have them ready to drink when you need one.
2. Have lots of shelves nearby. You need them so you can put your reference books on them so you don't have to go looking for them.
3. Get a pet. Preferrably a cat. Cats are interesting creatures and if you ignore them for an hour or two they will eventually demand your attention. This is a good thing because you can forget that time is passing while coding and the cat will remind you to get up and move about. Why is this important? Because there is this little thing called Phlebitus that you can get. (It is also called Secretary's Disease.) You get it from spending long hours sitting doing something. The blood in your legs tends to slow down and pool (ie: not return to the heart to be renewed as much). When the blood slows down enough it begins to form blood clots which can result in your having a stroke or you getting Phlebitus. If you are very unlucky (like me) it will completely block your artery or vien and you will then be on medication for the rest of your life (or you could say I am lucky not to be dead because of the Phlebitus). So get a pet and live a long healthy life. (This is not to mention the fun you can have with a pen light making the cat chase it all over the place. Of course it isn't too fun when the cat hits your pile of printouts and scatters them all over the place - but hey! That's why you get the shelves!)
4. Windows. You need them. You need them so you can open them and let some fresh air in. You need them so when it gets dark you remember to eat, go to the bathroom, etc.... You need them to realize that your life is passing you by while you sit there and code away. I coded for almost thirty years in buildings without windows. Now I work part time and spend a majority of my time at home coding in a room with a window. I also help out those who can't make their computers work, teach people about computers, and do other freebie things instead of just sitting in a window-less room and coding ten to sixteen hours per day.
Someone put a black hole in my pocket and now I'm broke.
USE IT!!!!
* Don't buy a $700 aeron chair and slouch in it.
* Don't let your wrists fall while you type.
* Don't lean in 3" from your LCDs, stay ~27" away.
* Take small 30-sec breaks every 20-30 min
* Eat healthy throughout the day, not a pile of pizza and candy once a day at midnight; regardless of how cool it makes you feel to drink energy drinks like Bawlz!.
* Avoid caffiene and meth, unless you have a major deadline to hit.
Seriously, if you can force yourself to do these things, you can go several hours longer programming during the day.
It works for me, but YMMV.
https://www.accountkiller.com/removal-requested
Actually no, it feels and behaves like a normal IDE, most people and that is mostly a documentation problem, run it with the default memory settings, while they work, eclipse will start to choke once you dump a load of files into it or once you hammer it with a handful plugins. Most people do not know that java does not behave like every other program it only takes the amount of ram it is assigned to currently running heavy server development with a s***itload of plugins and even an integrated case tool with following settings -vmargs -Xmx700m -Xms200m -XX:MaxPermSize=128m and the IDE is fast, believe me.